Here's something I need you to hear: your expertise is worth way more than you're charging for your time.

I know you've thought about productizing what you know, but you keep leaving money on the table because the barrier to entry is too damn high. Not your expertise. The infrastructure.

This is why I'm genuinely excited about appy.ai.

The product interviews you about your expertise (like, actually having a conversation with you), then builds an AI agent that knows your methodology. From that interview, they auto-generate a white-labeled marketing site, set up Stripe subscriptions, handle customer onboarding, and give you support tools.

The whole thing—interview to live product—takes 2-5 minutes.

No code. No tech stack decisions. No analysis paralysis about which platform to choose.

Just your expertise, packaged and monetized, with one shareable link.

I'm not saying this replaces your high-touch services. But if you've been sitting on knowledge that could be generating passive revenue while you sleep? This is probably the lowest-friction path I've seen to actually doing it instead of thinking about it.

Visit appy.ai and see if your expertise is ready to work harder than you do.

The entrepreneurs making real money aren't just working harder. They're working multiplied.

In 2021, I spoke at an event about Brand Positioning.

It was just after COVID. A lot of business owners had suffered from unexpected collapses in their businesses and were facing challenging problems. And positioning was crucial at the time, considering everyone’s limited resources and declining trust in the market.

A business owner couple from Canada, the McFaddens, approached me.

They came to me saying they wanted help with their business. Something about my presentation resonated with them. But when I asked them exactly what they needed help with, they just couldn’t point it out.

They knew they were doing okay, but also knew they could be, should be, doing SO MUCH BETTER. (Sound familiar?)

It was clear they were both great people (both as husband and wife and as leaders), and more importantly, they were damn good at what they did. So I said, “F**k it, let’s do it.”

And we started working together.

Little did I know then…the McFaddens from Canada would become one of the BIGGEST success stories of my entire career.

Not only did we do incredible work together, but we also became good friends. I’ve traveled to be with them and with their team in Vancouver, Canmore, and Saskatoon. My husband and I even eloped in Nova Scotia because of them (that’s a whole other long, wild story).

The market conditions today are becoming increasingly similar to then.

Trust in the market is declining, and distractions are growing by the minute. Businesses that want to grow in this period need to get very specific elements right: The EXACT elements that helped McFaddens unlock this remarkable success.

In today’s letter, I’m breaking down the McFaddens’ success story for you. I want to show you (with a real example) the remarkable transformation you can unlock by adopting the Essentialist principles.

We’ll start with the context (transformation), then I’ll reveal exactly what we did (strategy), and finally we’ll end with a couple long term lessons that you can take home from the story.

Stick till the end, and I promise you’ll get a massive boost of clarity and energy.

The McFaddens run a benefits administration company in Canada.

2 months after we started working together, 2 of their 4 (50%) team members quit the business due to COVID pressures. This was a distinctly low moment for the business. And the point where we started our Essentialist Transformation journey.

The principles were simple: Remove the unnecessary, identify the needle-moving levers, and relentlessly focus on your differentiators.

What does this mean… we’ll come to that. But I want to show you HOW MUCH impact this creates.

So here’s what happened:

Today, the business is unrecognizable.

It runs like a well oiled machine, with highly engaged, growth-minded team members knowing exactly what to do and systems that ensure the business grows without luck. It’s unimaginable that this was the same business whose growth had stalled and whose leaders couldn’t quite figure out why.

The question is:

To start, we put their entire business under the microscope.

And we asked the questions:

As we took a closer look, their flashy, impressive event series was simply not profitable. Its production took a heavy toll on the team, and the revenue results were hard to track and unclear. But everyone loved them, so what should they do?

We worked to shift their overall approach, still hosting events, but with most of the budget going toward a high impact speaker and creating an opportunity for attendees to learn and connect with each other and the team. And we got serious about tracking everything, outreach, invitations, follow up, and most importantly, revenue.

Also, we figured out that profit margins with their largest customer segment, small businesses, were painfully low. At first, we wondered if it made sense to begin phasing them out, but the whole team admitted they loved supporting these customers and serving them was core to the McFadden brand.

So instead, we began reorganizing the team and redesigning their operations to streamline and systematize how they served this customer segment. And it worked.

Not only did this give the whole team a huge sigh of relief, but it also freed up everyone’s time and creativity to go after higher-profit customers.

For the offers that were on the table, we asked the million dollar questions:

I gave them the permission to be real and vulnerable. And it was magic! They came with the “Hell yes!” answers about what they wanted!

We crystallized this positioning and completely rebuilt their sales process and pitch deck.

After the differentiated offer got validation, the situation was perfect for scaling!

You could wake the McFaddens up at the middle at the night, and they could tell you what their business did. It was so clear and simple.

As a final step, we added fire to gasoline.

With these systems, the business transformed from a clunky energy wasting machine to an accurate efficient money printing machine.

The McFaddens weren’t exactly my ideal clients (as they weren’t running a consulting business), but they applied the Essentialist principles flawlessly. And the result was 🚀

In fact, I’m so bullish on these principles that I re-imagined my entire offer on them. In Essentialist CEO Collective, this is exactly the transformation we aim for. If this sounds interesting, you can check it out here.

But now, let’s crystallize 2 BIG lessons I want you to take from this story.

Building a business requires objectivity.

You need to start clearly identifying what you’re spending your time on, and whether it’s effective! And you need to be brutally honest about it. It’s totally fine even if the situation is not good, but it’s not okay if you aren’t aware of the truth.

This becomes especially important when you are REALLY skilled at what you do.

You are attached to your craft. And this attachment tends to keep you from realizing that some activities aren’t moving the needle. Yes, you might love doing them. But doing them means you are sabotaging your business success!

Make a habit of tracking what you’re doing.

Data is your greatest friend in business.

The more data you have, the more you can think of business in terms of math problems. You aren’t guessing anything. You know exactly what to improve, and you can start experimenting.

Whatever you track starts improving! (and this is not an exaggeration).

Bill gates has a quote I absolutely love:

Only two months into working together, we were solving big urgent problems (rebuilding their team!) It was satisfying work. But that’s not what makes me the proudest.

What makes me proud is what we were able to achieve over 36 months of working together.

The adrenaline rush of reactive problem solving and putting out fires fades away wayyy quicker than it comes. But the business they’ve built today came from consistent small changes that compounded over time. That’s the beauty of leverage. It builds a legacy you'll be super proud of from your entrepreneurial journey.

Meaningful business stories take time.

Your proudest moments, biggest wins, and craziest stories are going to be wayyyy more incredible than you’ve imagined. You’ll create more impact than you thought possible. And you’ll change lives in ways that give you purpose.

But all of it comes after you make a conscious decision to think long term.

Consistency & progressive change >>>> Move fast & break things once

This is the real secret to McFadden’s success. And everytime I talk to them, I’m reminded of the power of long term thinking. I’m sure they’ll smile at this if they read this newsletter.

So let’s embody this energy and take it one step at a time.

(If you want some accountability, mentorship, and community, you’ll LOVE Essentailst CEO Collective. Join the waitlist here.)

Entrepreneurship is brutal, but it’s also beautiful.

I’m here with you for the long run.

In love & growth,

Kasey